1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to scanning articles in a shopping cart and, more particularly, to a scanning system situated at a check-out counter for scanning for the presence of articles in the lower basket of a shopping cart and providing a voice message upon the detection thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Shopping carts are commonly used in self-service stores to gather articles that are brought to a check-out counter where the articles are itemized and reckoned up to the total cost so as to allow the customer to provide payment for the outgoing merchandise.
During the gathering some of the articles may be placed into the lower basket of the shopping cart, and when the shopping cart arrives at the check-out counter sometimes these lower basket articles go undetected because the customer has not removed them from the lower basket, and because of the poor viewing position of the check-out counter clerk relative to the lower basket. This non-detection may become a business loss to the self-service store, an unpaid benefit for the customer, or an additional burden to both the check-out clerk and the customer if the detection of these lower tray articles is realized before the shopping cart leaves the premises of the self-service store and the customer needs to recycle the shopping cart through the check-out counter. It is desired that automatic means be provided that does not rely on the memory of a customer nor the viewing of a check-out clerk to detect for any articles in the lower tray of a shopping cart so that the proper itemizing and total cost may be received for the outgoing merchandise being conveyed off the store premises by the customer.